Wednesday

OK, I get it. It’s still summer. Summers are hot. Today hit 93° on my deck. No breeze. Just my portable cooler to keep me comfortable when I was not out and about running errands.

My day with the tax man came and went. I had all the right stuff. My tax guy called the Colorado Tax lady. They spoke for about 20 minutes. They threw around form numbers, and other gibberish. All I said was my Social Security number. When it was all over, I had to send in the same twenty-seven pages of paperwork I had sent in back in April. My tax guy told me, “Well, we will start with this….again.” I rushed to the Post Office and mailed off all the forms, at a cost of $10.51. I know full well that this is not over, in fact, I feel it is only beginning. The good part is that I was assured, by my tax guy, that I won’t owe any money. I know I could never have been a tax guy. I just don’t have the patience. The tax office in Flag now greets me by my first name, and today, even bought me a Starbucks coffee. The tax guy, a little older than I am, just kept saying ‘frigin’ computer, ‘friggin’ forms, ‘friggin’ piles of papers. I guess he was getting as frustrated as I have been for the last month over this silly tax problem.

Two phrases are in the news again today—Sheriff Apraio and Racial Profiling. He has investigations from Homeland Security, Dept of Justice, and now a civil suit. His ‘sweeps’ pick up about 50-75 people who might be illegal, holds them for hours with no food, water, or restroom facilities. They are usually handcuffed and lined up near a wall. The detainees can’t have the water or restroom, because the deputies need to keep them together. After hours of being held, only a small number of people are arrested. Of the arrested group, only one or two are illegal, a few more are arrested for outstanding warrants—most for unpaid parking tickets. All other detainees are just sent on their way, left to explain to employers and/or family members why they were late. Sheriff Joe really likes press conferences and really likes the spotlight. Most of all Sheriff Joe likes to be the victim. He continues to babble on about how the Feds and the ACLU don’t scare him and won’t stop him from his ‘sweeps’ that are making Maricopa County a safer place to live. Really? Yep, that’s what he says.

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Random Facts…

The word 'set' has more definitions than any other word in the English language.

Crazy Stuff in the Royal Family…

George III of Great Britain and Ireland was being driven through Windsor Great Park when he ordered his carriage driver to stop. The King got out, walked over to an oak tree, shook hands with one of its branches and talked to it for several minutes. He thought he was talking to the King of Prussia.

Ludwig II of Bavaria was notable for his decision to reverse night and day. He had a moon painted on his bedroom ceiling and embarked on epic mountain journeys in the dead of night in a golden sleigh, accompanied by coachmen who were forced to dress in the style of Louis XIV.

Catherine the Great of Russia, discovering that she had dandruff, imprisoned her hairdresser in an iron cage for three years to stop the news spr eading. Enchanted by a primrose in the royal garden,she posted a sentry to guard the plant day and night.

Queen Juana of Spain worshipped her husband Philip, who died in 1506, so much that she refused to allow him to be buried and had his coffin accompany her wherever she traveled.

Henry Christophe, King of Northern Haiti, ordered his guards to prove their loyalty to him by marching over a 200ft-high cliff. Those who obeyed plunged to their deaths; those who refused were tortured and executed. Christophe eventually ended up shooting himself.


Month long events in August

Edinburgh Festival is an internationally famous arts festival that takes place during August National Immunization Awareness Month… National Psoriasis Awareness Month… Women's Small Business Month... National Back to School month…American Adventures Month…Golf Month…National Inventor’s Month…National Win with Civility Month…What will be your legacy Month

Week of Aug 17…

Weird Contest Week

20 Aug…

232 days so far this year…133 days remain in 2009
Pony Express Day
Virtual World’s Day
*Estonia: Day of Restoration of Independence—from Soviet Union—1991
*Hungary: Constitution Day—1949
*Senegal: Independence Day—1960


BIRTHS ON THIS DAY…

1778….. Bernardo O'Higgins won independence for Chile
1785….. Oliver Hazard Perry US Naval hero

1833….. Benjamin Harrison North Bend, Ohio (R) 23rd Pres

1901 ….. Salvatore Quasimodo Italy, poet/critic/translator (Nobel 1959)
1907 ….. Shirley Booth NYC, actress (Hazel)
1923 ….. Jim (James Travis) Reeves “Gentleman Jim” guitarist, singer
1931 ….. Don King boxing promoter
1942 ….. Isaac Hayes composer (Shaft)
1946 ….. Connie Chung TV newscaster
1948 ….. Robert Plant rocker (Led Zeppelin
1954 ….. Al Roker TV weatherman

Events on this day…

1741 ….. Alaska was discovered by Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering. That’s how the Bering Sea got its name.
1789 ….. An "Act Providing for the Expenses Which May Attend Negotiations or Treaties with the Indian Tribes, and the Appointment of Commissioners for Managing the Same" is approved by the United States.

1866 ….. Pres Andrew Johnson formally declares Civil War over
1896 ….. Dial telephone patented

1910 ….. Eero Saarinen ), Finnish-American architect and designer of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and Dulles Airport in Virginia.
1940 ….. After 3 months of the Battle Of Britain in the skies over the South Coast the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the British Royal Air Force, saying, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
….. ….. Exiled Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico City
1959 ….. Actor Hugh O’Brian, TV’s Wyatt Earp, finally met his idol, Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Africa. O’Brian was conveyed up the river by natives who were lepers and he met the famous doctor at his hospital. After meeting Schweitzer, O’Brian referred to him as “a living saint”. The physician strongly urged the need to abolish nuclear testing and war and O’Brian came back to the U.S. with the same views.
1974 ….. Nolan Ryan pitch measured at record 161.6 kph (100.4 mph)
1988 ….. In the worst day of fires in Yellowstone National Park firstorms destroy over 150,000 acres of the park.





Missing Pairs from BrainFood.com

In each of these puzzles, there are two double blanks.
Fill in the blanks with the same pair of letters to complete an English word.
For example, use the letter-pair ac in b__ckp__k to make the word backpack.

1. v _ _ lat _ _ n
2. h _ _ dw _ _ e
3. _ _ rses _ _ e
4. a _ _ a _ _ a
5. s _ _ tim _ _ t
6. who _ _ sa _ _
7. p _ _ sev _ _ e
8. tr _ _ bad _ _ r
9. _ _ da _ _ ted
10. d _ _ tingu _ _h
* Bonus: _ _ s _ _ de
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Answers:
1. violation
2. hardware
3. horseshoe
4. alfalfa
5. sentiment
6. wholesale
7. persevere
8. troubadour
9. undaunted
10. distinguish
* Bonus: cascade
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